Wednesday, March 20, 2019 - Dine and Discover

Alexandra RosatiAssistant Professor of Psychology and Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of Michigan​Evolving the Human Mind: What our Primate RelativesReveal About Human Cognition

Alexandra Rosati’s research focuses on how evolution shaped the way humans think. She is motivated by these big questions: “What is it about humans that allows us to think the way we do?” and “How is it that other animals are in some ways very smart, but don’t have the kinds of lives we have?” Alexandra’s lab investigates primates from a variety of approaches, including the complexity of their social groups, what kinds of foods they eat, how they make decisions, and how they solve problems. Looking at biological function of cognitive abilities, Alexandra and her colleagues are ultimately trying to understand what made humans capable of such amazing feats of cognition.